ENR

Sept 23, 2019

A contractor in Liverpool is set to tear down the Churchill Way viaduct by the end of the year, one of the most dramatic consequences of a new U.K. inspection regime of post-tensioned concrete bridges that emerged from the rubble of collapses nearly 30 years ago.

Transportation

UK Contractor To Raze Liverpool's Churchill Way Viaduct

New highway will replace post-tensioned structure built in 1970

Peter Reina

September 11, 2019

No Comments

New post-tension special inspection regime revealed structural shortcomings.

Water Infrastructure

Senate Committee Approves 11% Hike for Corps Civil Works

Tom Ichniowski

September 12, 2019

No Comments

Republicans defeat Democrats' attempts to block DOD projects' funding shift to border wall.

Water Infrastructure

House, Senate OK Bill to Help Newark, Other Cities Fund Drinking-Water Upgrades

Measure would let states shift more dollas to drinking-water revolving funds

Tom Ichniowski

September 11, 2019

No Comments

UPDATE 9/18/19: House passage sends bill to President Trump for his signature.

Congress

House Oversight Panel Opens Ethics Inquiry into Chao's Actions

Tom Ichniowski

September 16, 2019

No Comments

One focus of committee probe is whether DOT Secretary's actions aided shipping company her parents founded.

Court Nixes 'Eminent Domain' for Big East Coast Fracked-Gas Pipeline

Debra K. Rubin

September 15, 2019

No Comments

Will issues of private seizure of state land on the $1B PennEast project and others head for the US Supreme Court?

Industry Execs Target Construction Materials Sector on Labor Abuses

Debra K. Rubin

September 15, 2019

No Comments

Foundation-funded effort would push owners and specifiers to scrutinize product origins and add restrictions to specs, RFPs and contracts.

Hurricane Maria

Former Energy Contractor Faces Corruption Charges in Puerto Rico Work

Current, Former FEMA Officials Also Indicted

Pam Radtke Russell

September 17, 2019

No Comments

Cobra Acquisitions took over power restoration work in Puerto Rico after a contract with the maligned Whitefish Energy was canceled.

Lance Richotte, The Erection Co.'s New Leader, Dies at Age 53

Nadine M. Post

September 17, 2019

One Comment

Adam Jones Sr., founder of The Erection Co., has returned as the Arlington, Wash.-based steel erector’s CEO following the sudden death of Lance Richotte, TEC’s president, CEO and primary shareholder since last year.

Lawmakers Grill Corporations about PFAS Contamination

Pam McFarland

September 12, 2019

No Comments

At a Sept. 10 hearing, Democrats and some Republicans on the House Oversight Committee asked witnesses what lawmakers could do to begin to address the problem of PFAS.

Environment

Trump Administration Rolls Back 2015 Clean Water Rule

Action repeals Obama-era WOTUS regs that determined Clean Water Act permitting requirements

Pam Hunter McFarland

Pam Radtke Russell

September 12, 2019

One Comment

Industry, business and agricultural groups cheered the announcement, but Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen called the repeal of the 2015 rule “shameful and dangerous. No one is above the law, including the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Federal Contract Disputes

Court Ruled Feds Terminated Small Contractor Based On 'Hostility'

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Jonathan Barnes

September 17, 2019

3 Comments

The Dept. of Defense contract team failed to follow criteria for termination firmly established in federal case precedents, Federal claims court ruled.